A Flawless Flower
by Krystallenever
Summary: Can somebody or something truly be flawless? Perhaps not. However, what's flawless and what's not is in the eye of the beholder. To many, she is flawless. She is a untarnished by this world. Her heart is as pure as gold. Who is she? Where does she come from? Through the Fourth Ninja War, follow her heart, her sacrifices, her emotions. OC X Different characters
1. Before the Storm

**Chapter 1: Before the storm**

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><p><em>War. A three-letter word that I did not ever want to come out of my mouth. A three-letter word that I despise. I hate the thought of smelling the stench of the blood, hearing the cries of despair and seeing inanimate bodies around me. War. A three-letter word that, when announced, could mean death of dear ones, of faces we once have known, of unknown strangers yet to be known. War... If only this was part of a nightmare. <em>

She sighed as she closed her notebook. Whenever something wandered in her mind, she would write it down. The happy, the sad, the fluttering, the anxious moments of her life we all written in there. She kept more than a dozen of those. They are her most precious belongings. They represent her past, her present, her future. They are the windows to her heart and mind.

She took out a scroll from her pouch, opened it, placed her notebook above it and stored the notebook in it. She placed the scroll back in her pouch, attached the strings of her pouch and laid down on the hard rocks of Kumogakure's mountain tops. She looked to the beautiful blue sky patched with white clouds. She sighed again. She couldn't believe today was the day already. What is now known as the Fourth Shinobi World War was about to begin.

"Shouldn't you be heading down? Gaara is about to talk to everyone." said a dull voice. "Aren't you really close to him?"

She opened her eyes. A tall man with a big stature covered the sun for her. She sat up.

"Aren't you the First Company's commander, Darui? Shouldn't you be there?" she replied with a smirk.

He chuckled and sat down beside her.

"Sorry for asking. I should have known better." he said with a sweet smile. "The sky is especially beautiful today. I have a good feeling about today."

He paused and looked at the young girl who, once again, sighed.

"Are you scared?" he asked her.

She shook her head , then nodded, then rested her head against her knees, hiding her face. Scared wasn't the right word to describe what she was feeling, yet it wasn't wrong either. She did have some fear. She wasn't afraid of the war, of fighting. She feared loss, she feared failure.

"Yua. Don't be afraid. As long as I'm there... No I should say as long as we stand all together, we will succeed." he said softly holding onto her hand.

""Don't be afraid..." You said the same thing to me about 10 years ago." she chuckled.

"Did I? It must be quite dull for you to hear be say the same thing twice. Then again wasn't the situation completely different from this?"

"To me, those words will always mean the same thing."

Time might have gone by, but some things has remained the same. She remembered it just like it was yesterday, he remembered it just as well; the first time they met. She was 7 at the time and he was just a few years older than her. She was an outsider. She was a stranger to the village. She had no friends, no family, but she was talented. He had friends, family and was talented. Only one thing connected them: their talent. She had just become an ANBU. It was unthinkable that an outsider could take part in the secrets of a village. She made that possible. He had just become a jonin. He was known to have inherited the Third Raikage's black lightning technique. He proudly wore a tattoo of the word "lightning" on his left arm. That one day, for some reason, let's call it fate, he decided to take the long route to home. He passed by her apartment where she stood on her balcony watering her flowers. That day, she was injured. Her wrist was hurting and she accidentally poured some water out her balcony. Fate, then, decided to play its trick again. Those few drops fell onto his face as he passed by. He looked to see where they were coming from. The sky was blue. There was no cloud. He tilted his head, keeping his eyes out of the sun, and saw her. He knew who she was. Everybody in the village knew who she was. What they didn't know was why she was in their village. This time was different though. He knew who she was from that moment. She wasn't a stranger to his eyes from that moment on. What he remembers was now a beautiful innocent smile that any child from any village could bare on their face. She was no stranger. She was just like anybody else in the village. She just wasn't born there. She remembered wanting to go down there and apologize for pouring water on him. His gaze was different from the ones she has received. It was gentle, warm, almost like there was a smile she couldn't see on his lips, but coming from his heart. However, she was afraid. What if he only had that look because he couldn't see who she was? She simply muttered the word sorry and smiled gently before backing away from her flowers into the shadow of her apartment. As she set foot back into her apartment, just before she closed her glass door she heard:

"It was just a little bit of water. It woke me up. Oh, and I should say sorry too. I think me, just like so many others, saw you as different, as an outsider. It's a bit cliche for me to say this but, your smile made me realize how similar you are to all the other children in our village, to me. Don't be afraid anymore. Don't be afraid to smile. That's what made me understand my mistake. Again, sorry. Have a nice day."

She turned around and stepped back onto her balcony. He was already walking away. However, like he knew she would come out and look at him, he was waving. His wave, for some reason, seemed warm, comforting. He was parting with her, but yet he wasn't. She couldn't help but smile again. This was the first time in a long time her heart felt so light.

Yua sighed with a smile thinking about that past story. She glanced over at Darui. He was smiling too. She closed her eyes, then looked to the sky once again.

"The sky looks exactly like the one on the day we first met." she said.

"The calm before the storm."

She nodded. She took a deep breath, stood up, stretched herself and said:

"Should we head over to the gathering now?"

"We should." he replied as he stood up and wiped away the grass that stuck to his clothes.

He walked ahead of her. She looked at his back. She couldn't help but smile. He was exactly the way she described him in her notebook:

_He wasn't my first friend. He wasn't the first that was warm to me. However, he was the first one to open his heart to me when I was in times of darkness. When I was confused, unhappy, he was the first one to comfort me. He probably doesn't even know it. He was the calm after the storm and before the storm. When I parted ways with him, I feared that I would no longer have help or a shoulder to lean onto. Although he always acts as though life is dull, he made my life lively, colorful, tasteful. I want to say thank you to him, but I'm afraid that thank you is the end of a story. I'm still holding on. I feel like a burden, but with his big stature, he can bare it, right? _

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><p>Thank you for reading this first chapter.<p>

Please leave your comments. They are always appreciated.

xoxo

Krystallenever


	2. The Wind blows and the Sand follows

**Chapter 2: The Wind blows and the Sand follows.**

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><p>"I guess I have to head up there with the rest of the commanders..."<p>

She nodded and stepped into the crowd as he jumped up the wall to stand in front of his company. As she made her way through the crowd to the front, she heard people fighting, she sensed negative energy coming from so many. She sighed. It was expected. How could villages that have been involved in multiple conflicts throughout the years against each other, within a day or two, become comrades and trust each other? She looked up and saw the Tsuchikage. If she wasn't mistaken, he was definitely frowning and shaking his head from left to right. She also saw Gaara, standing tall arms crossed, looking down to the conflicted crowd. She knew better than anyone that he believed in the possible peace between the villages, and that perhaps more than anyone else but Naruto. She continued to make her way through the crowd while keeping her eyes on the Kazekage.

_Gaara, what are you thinking about now? I want to believe in the possible ideal world just like you, but can you see this? Can you hear this? Can you feel the tension there is within or troops? _

She almost made it to the front of the crowd. She reached two shinobis. One was from Konoha, the other was from Kumogakure. They were yelling at each other, throwing empty punches at each other thanks to their comrades who held them back. However, their friends lost grip. They charged at each other, grabbed each others' collar and suddenly were pushed back and away from each other. Sand. She looked around her. All those confrontations were interrupted by sand, Gaara's sand. She looked up once again, he opened his mouth and said softly but firmly:

"For many years shinobis have hated each and for what? The lust for power, that is. And from that lust, I was born and made into a Jinchuuriki, the embodiment of both hatred and power. I hated the world for condemning me to such a fate. There was a time where I wanted to hurt others for what they have done to me, for all the pain they caused to me. However, I met this one shinobi. He wasn't from my village, nor was he a friend. On the contrary, he was a foe. Yet, he cried for me and understood my pain and loneliness. He taught me how to use my power to protect those who are important to me. He taught me that we can go over the boundaries of our villages and befriend anyone. He became a precious friend to me. Today, this friend of mine is threatened by the Akatsukis. I want to protect him. However, I am much too young, much too inexperienced. So, I am sincerely asking you all to give me a hand to, not only protect my friend, but to protect this world."

Cheers. As she kept her eyes on him, she could feel the energy from the crowd change instantly. She couldn't help but allow the corner of her mouth to lift up.

"He has changed, hasn't he?"

She turned to her right and saw a familiar painted face.

"Kankuro... I guess so. Or not..."

"Perhaps. You did get to know him even better than me, his own brother."

"You were too busy being scared."

He chuckled. Perhaps that was indeed true. He remembered when he used to fear Gaara. Now, the fear is no longer existent. All there's left is brotherly love and the feeling of wanting to make up for all these past years where he ignored Gaara's feeling and needs. She chuckled. She did know Gaara better than anyone else in the village back when they were still kids.

_Gaara. He is a kid about my age, perhaps younger, but that everybody feared. I saw him everyday, walking alone in the market and although he did nothing to threaten anyone, people would avoid him. He was always alone. I could tell that he's not a mean child. I have asked Chiyo-baasama why people looked at him as though he was a monster. She simply replied that it wasn't something I should be paying attention to. Then again, Chiyo-baasama has long stopped caring about the village. The reason is unknown to me, but that's how it has been since I've been here. Back to Gaara now. I couldn't help my curiosity and went out of my way one day to come up to him. I had some bakeries in hand and decided to share it with him. He was so hesitant to reach out his hand to grab on the pastry I handed to him. I am not the most patient child. I shoved straight into his mouth. He stared at me, took a bite and removed it from his mouth. He chewed it away and his mouth slowly turned into a crescent. It was smile. I smiled back. From that day onward, we became friends. We said very little to each other though. He briefly mentioned his siblings and his father. It wasn't unknown to anyone. He opened up a lot about his uncle, perhaps the only other person who sincerely cared for him. The days went by that way, or the nights I should say. We only met under the moonlight. He loves the moon. I love anything that brightens up the darkness. At times, I truly believed that I was that light in his life, or I hoped that I was, because then, I would suddenly have value. _

_One day, I was told to leave the village. I was powerless and had to leave with a heavy heart. I did not get the chance to say goodbye to Gaara. As I walked through the desert of the Sand Village, I whistled a soft tune, hoping that the wind would carry it to Gaara and that he wouldn't feel too lonely that night._

"Oi, Yua. Gaara is looking at you. I think he wants you to get up there." Kankuro said as he tapped her gently on the shoulder.

Yua looked up. He was indeed looking at her and showing a hand motion indicating for her to come up there. She frowned. She hated being looked at by a crowd. She bit her inferior lip and started going up that wall. Within seconds, she was standing next to Gaara, her back to the crowd. She whispered:

"Is there really a need for this?"

He simply nodded. She sighed. He moved his eyes away from her and his gaze onto the crowd. With a loud voice, he addressed the crowd:

"The one standing next to me now is someone I would entrust my life with. Like I said, because I am still too young and inexperienced, I need all the help I can get. I believe all of us feel the same way no matter how old, how wise or how skilled we are. She will be the one who will come to your help when you really need it, just like she did when I was still a child."

Yua slowly turned her head to the side to look at him. He was smiling as he said those words.

"She has marked every single forehead protector," he continued. "As some of you might already know, she is blessed with incredible talent and was able to learn and master many jutsus from our predecessors. This particular one gave the Fourth Hokage the nickname of Konoha's Yellow Flash. She will come to you in an instant if she senses you are facing a terrible danger. Of course, she's only a human being and cannot do all she wants to do. Danger is something one judges to be one. War is an unpredictable thing. Deaths and sacrifices are part of it and are things we cannot discard entirely. The best that we can do if limit losses. I hope you can all trust her judgement for those points."

He turned towards her. He softly whispered to her ear:

"Why don't you say a few words to them?"

"Like what?"

He raised his shoulders, put his hands onto hers and turned her around so that she would face them all. He gave her a little push in the back. She gulped down her saliva, looked around. On one side, she could see Darui's face smiling at her, encouraging her to speak. On that same side, she could see Kakashi-sensei's face, also smiling. It was a smile, however, that showed that he understood how awkward she felt on that spot. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth:

"I..."

What she really wanted to say was that she was sorry they had to trust someone who couldn't fully trust herself yet. However, those faces were gleaming with joy and hope. She just couldn't bring herself to say those words even though they would be the truth.

"My name is Yua and I will do my best to protect you all and do my part in maintaining this world's peace."

She bowed to all of them. _Wherever there's a storm, I'll make sure I'm going to be there. __  
><em>

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><p>End of Chapter 2<p>

Thank you for reading.

Please do leave comments/feedback. It is always appreciated.

Love,

Krystallen


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